Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume2 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 8===

“…”

Someone watched the girl throw a pillow in anger.

But that someone was watching from the high school building located opposite the middle school on the combined deck of the ship’s three-hull structure. Some parts of the school building were full of people and others were deserted. The next floor down was noisy, but this hallway was entirely silent.

“Imi> Ugh, this is awful. You can’t count on online shopping at all. This swimsuit isn’t the right size. Marika, tell me how to deal with the cooling off period.”

“Marika> Don’t blame the store. It’s not their fault your body is growing so fast.”

“Imi> You say that, but what’s your cup size nowadays!?”

She was chatting with her classmates on social media while she watched.

The twintails girl sighed and coolly activated her Crystal Blossom. The translucent armor covered her body and she flipped around the rapier-like device’s guard to reveal a laser beam unit. Marika used Tezcatlipoca, who was linked to an obsidian mirror, so she could make attacks using light. Her accuracy was perfect. At this range, she could provide dental work if someone opened their mouth. As long as they were fine with having the surface burned away without any anesthetic.

“Tayori> Does the sale on the new summer colors begin in May? The world’s fashions are getting so vivid. I hate all those bright fluorescent colors. Do you know any more mature online stores that have better taste?”

“Imi> Why do you love wearing those skimpy things, Tayori? Is it about the airflow???”

“Tayori> Shut it, thick cotton girl. I’m talking about mascara right now. And are you trying to make tofu with those striped panties?”

“Imi> These are polyester, not cotton!!”

“Marika> Um, why are you including me in these shockingly embarrassing messages? Are you both digital exhibitionists or something???”

That gave her some time to think.

About Utagai Karuta, not Natalena Blast.

Things were not going well for him. He said he would persuade the girl and wait for her to have a change of heart. That seemed so uncertain and careless to her. Why did he fail to realize that he would be killed if Natalena chose the “betrayal” card just once out of the hundreds of decisions she would be making from now on?

She hated this. He was stupidly pure, but that was exactly why she refused to let anyone trample on his feelings. What that girl did ''now'' was not the issue. She was bound to do it ''eventually''. That was a foregone conclusion at this point.

So Marika would kill the girl. That was the only way to keep them safe.

The way Karuta and Kyouka saw it, Marika could not do that now that she had lost based on the rules they had all agreed to. Because if she did, they would break apart and she would lose the person she was trying to protect. But those two were too naïve.

She did not care if she lost her own position here.

As long as she could protect the people she saw as “on her side” – namely, Karuta, Aine, and Kyouka – nothing else mattered to her. Her top priority was protecting those people she cared for and there was no real reason why her own name had to be on that list.

If they arrested her, so be it.

If she was kicked out of Grimnoah, she could deal with it.

If Utagai Karuta killed her after she saved him…well, she might actually enjoy that.

Whatever the case, Amaashi Marika was not going to stop here. She intentionally narrowed her focus. She made sure to view only this one point. She made sure she was aware of every last breath that target took.

And then…

“Miss Marika.”

She loudly clicked her tongue.

The voice came from behind her. The almost mechanical-sounding voice of course belonged to Crystal Girl Aine. She could tell without even looking back that the girl’s cold katana would be held out toward her back.

“So he saw through it all, huh?”

“Sacri-sama does not wish to fight you. He hopes you will keep that in mind.”

Karuta had lured her into this sniping point so Aine could sneak up behind her, but that was not what irritated her so much.

She was irritated that Aine was here at all.

“I can’t believe that moron. Does this mean he’s smiling and speaking with her while really and truly defenseless? When she’s honestly trying to kill him?”

Her voice was tinged with exasperation.

Did he feel he could only really speak with the girl when he set his weapon aside? That was a lovely enough sentiment to place in a textbook, but this was an assassin who had put together a plot to kill him and even acted on that plot. Once she knew he could not use Aine, she was certain to bare her fangs and activate her Crystal Blossom armor. And there was nothing Karuta could do once that happened.

Amaashi Marika did not think she was normal. A normal girl could not protect the people she cared about, so she had ''intentionally destroyed her own brakes'' and forced herself to make the cruel decisions. She knew that about herself.

But that childhood friend was different.

He remained unchanged and smiling as he wished for peace and disliked conflict.

Yet the most broken one among them was not Amaashi Marika or Omotesandou Kyouka; it was Utagai Karuta.

“Aine-chan.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you think we should kill Natalena Blast? Before she can actually harm someone?”

“Yes. But Sacri-sama has banned that and I will obey his inefficient command.”

He may have been even more broken than Aine ''who was not even human.

Yes, Aine had intended to kill Natalena from the beginning. Then Marika had suggested they kill her. Kyouka had gone on to suggest they torture her to get information from her, but she would not have cared much about whether the girl survived or not. She would not be a comedic dominatrix from a comedian’s skit. A true whip would have knots and metal hooks that tore into the skin and muscle. A torturer would strike people like that without batting an eye.

Natalena had attacked them, so they had no reason to show any leniency. Even the laws of their country allowed for self-defense.

Karuta might seem like the reasonable one, but he was in fact the odd man out.

Of course people would take a cold view of a someone trying to kill them or the people they cared about. Especially if they had been set free to do as they wished. You could not hope for morality, ethics, and universal humanity at a time like that.

And.

And yet.

How could he forgive her? How could he smile and trust the person holding that blade?

“Miss Marika.”

“Yes, I know. I have to give up this time.”

“Ideally, you would give up indefinitely and not just this one time. Stopping you every single time sounds like a lot of work.”

Aine made it sound like she could in fact do that, so it may have been a matter of pride for her.

Marika had lost this once, so she was not going to argue the point until she had redeemed herself.

“I just hope there are plenty more opportunities.”

“Agreed.”

“He could be killed in his sleep by someone he could have easily defeated if he tried. But I guess that does sound like an appropriate way for ''one of the world’s strongest to die'', doesn’t it? That’s the path we’re on right now. A stereotypical one-way road to doom that someone else laid out for us. And, Aine-chan, don’t forget that you share Karuta’s fate if he dies.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

As various foreboding gears came together, school life at Grimnoah continued.

It would be May soon.

They would spend all of Golden Week on a field trip.